Helpful Links for Educators:
educatorsresources.com: The Educators Resource Directory lists nationwide PreK-12th grade resources for curriculum materials, awards and grants, service- learning, professional development, and more.
KindLiving.net: Inspires people to both recognize and bring more kindness into their lives. The origin is found in Andy Smallman's online classes, now being offered here in exciting new formats. The centerpiece for Kind Living is their blog where they post inspiring stories from their lives several times a week.
rippleeffects.com: Check out these free Ripple Kindness Cards! They are a great resource for your office, school, classroom, or friends and family. These Kindness Cards aim to reinforce kindness and giving in every individual.
ysa.org: Youth Service America (YSA), founded in 1986, supports a global culture of engaged youth (ages 5-25) committed to a lifetime of service, learning leadership, and achievement. Their goals are twofold: to educate youth, teachers, community organizations, media, and public officials in the power of youth as problem solvers; and to engage children and youth as volunteers, as academic achievers, and as community leaders. They organize a Global Youth Service Day and many other events and programs throughout the year.
greatergood.berkeley.edu: The Greater Good Science Center at Berkeley studies the psychology, sociology, and neuroscience of well-being, and teaches skills that foster a thriving, resilient, and compassionate society. Since 2001, they have been at the forefront of a new scientific movement to explore the roots of happy and compassionate individuals, strong social bonds, and altruistic behavior—the science of a meaningful life.
Pointsoflight.org: Points of Light Institute is a national organization with a global focus to redefine volunteerism and civic engagement for the 21st century, putting people at the center of community problem solving. Their vision is that one day every person will discover their power to make a difference, creating healthy communities in vibrant democracies around the world.
randomkid.org: Kids often have BIG ideas. RandomKid takes their ideas for a better tomorrow seriously and helps to make them a reality. By guiding children, classrooms, and youth groups around the world through the necessary steps, teaching them appropriate skills, and creating opportunities to tap into a variety of resources that allow them to inspire and mobilize others, RandomKid empowers children to solve real-world problems.
rachelschallenge.org: Rachel Scott was the first person killed at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999. Her acts of kindness and compassion coupled with the contents of her six diaries have become the foundation for one of the most life-changing school programs in America, Rachel’s Challenge.
kindness.yahoo.com: Yahoo! has created a website devoted to all things Kindness. Your single good deed, big or small, can inspire others and cause a ripple effect of kindness that continues to grow as others join in. Start something today — the more people who take action, the larger your ripple will become.
rootsofempathy.org: Roots of Empathy is an evidence-based charitable organization and classroom program with the mission of building caring, peaceful, and civil societies through the development of empathy in children and adults. Its vision is to change the world - child by child.
kidsforpeaceglobal.org: Kids for Peace is global nonprofit with a desire to cultivate every child's innate ability to foster peace through cross-cultural experiences and hands-on arts, service and environmental projects. One of the ways they do this is through their Peace Pledge.
greatkindnesschallenge.org: The Great Kindness Challenge is one day where kids around the world perform acts of kindness, using a checklist downloaded from the event website. The Great Kindness Challenge is always held on the second Saturday in August.
http://www.changents.com/: Changents is an organization that highlights and connects Agents for Change all over the world. They are connecting the people that help the world to the people that help them. Take a look at their site and read the inspiring stories of Agents of Change, and learn how you can help, too!
handsonnetwork.org: HandsOn Network inspires, equips, and mobilizes people to change lives through service. Visit their website to find volunteer opportunities near you and learn how their community has achieved over 30,400,000 collective hours of volunteer service!
www.generationon.org: Please visit GenerationOn to see the amazing resources available for parents, teachers, and kids to make their mark on the world.
http://www.ckn-usa.org/The Children's Kindness Network has created curriculum for preschool teachers that will encourage and teach the benefits of kindness to their students. They also provide numerous resources on their website: videos, articles on the importance of kindness, and creative ways to implement kindness in the classroom.
learningtogive.org Learning to Give educates youth about the importance of philanthropy, the civil society sector, and civic engagement. The Learning to Give website offers over 1,400 K-12 lessons and educational resources for teachers, parents, youth workers, faith groups and community leaders free of charge.
Sharable.net: is a nonprofit online magazine that tells the story of sharing. They cover the people, places, and projects bringing a shareable world to life. And they share how-tos so you can make a shareable world real in your life. In a shareable world, things like car sharing, clothing swaps, childcare coops, potlucks, and cohousing make life more fun, green, and affordable. When we share, not only is a better life possible, but so is a better world.
onemillionactsofkindness.com: encourages individuals to have a goal, but not just any goal! They suggest that each individual have a goal of completing one million acts of kindness in his or her lifetime. What better goal that that? Imagine how the world could change if each person committed to doing ten acts of kindness, much less a million, in their lifetime.
yesmagazine.org/happiness: YES! Magazine reframes the biggest problems of our time in terms of their solutions. Online and in print, they outline a path forward with in-depth analysis, tools for citizen engagement, and stories about real people working for a better world.
